Broken Promise
by Amela333
Summary: We all know what happens to Darren after he escapes from Kurda, but what happens at Vampire Mountain during the time he's recovering with the wolves?
1. Part I

**Disclaimer: **Darren Shan owns The Saga of Darren Shan/Cirque du Freak, not me. I know, can you believe it?

**A/N: **So, this was going to be a contest entry back for 'Rain', and then I realized it had nothing to do with rain, and it was incredibly long, so I decided to post it separately because I kind of liked it. We all know what happened to Darren after he escaped from Kurda, but this is my version of what happened with the vampires during the time that Darren was recovering with the wolves.

* * *

_Larten's POV_

I had fought my toughest battle yet for him. I had tried to reason, I pleaded, I begged. Kurda, Gavner, and Vanez argued from every angle to save Darren, and even sticklers like Arra and Seba had tried to bend the rules and make them give him just one more chance. But the Princes weren't breaking. They wouldn't. After an hour, the fight was knocked out of me, and when Kurda excused himself to go check on Darren, I collapsed back into my seat, burying my face in my hands and letting out a long sigh. I was not sure whether or not I would be able to face Darren if - when - the bad verdict reached him. Would I stand in the hall and watch as my assistant, my friend, the closest thing I'd ever had to son, was gouged with stakes? I had seen plenty of friends put to death before, for reasons I both agreed and disagreed with, but looking back, none of that would be as painful as seeing Darren's small body strapped into a cage and...

Gavner stood up next to me and muttered something about going to talk to Kurda, and I slumped back again, watching numbly as Paris and a handful of our eldest vampires tried to find some rule to save him. Vanez and Arra still added the occasional plea for his life, to give him another chance, but I couldn't fight any more. It was a long-lost battle and to argue his fate would do nothing more than make it worse. Seba sighed from somewhere behind me, knowing as well as I did that Darren's execution may as well have been declared a final verdict.

The debating carried on for several more minutes to the point that seemingly every defense had been brought up and shot down. All other chatter had faded away, and only the Princes murmured amongst themselves. I had no idea what they could possibly be discussing, their decision was clear. Then, Mika Ver Leth got to his feet to address the hall. It was plain by the look in his coal-black eyes what the verdict was, and even though I had seen it coming, his grim stare burned a hole through my chest. "I'm sorry," Arra said softly, returning to her seat beside me and placing a hand on my back.

That was when Kurda Smahlt re-entered the hall.

* * *

_Kurda's POV_

"Permission to speak, Sires?" I asked breathlessly, my heart pounding in my chest, echoing through my head. I hoped to the Vampire Gods none of them could see the horror of what I had done in my eyes, and that no one would notice that I had changed into a new shirt, the other having been drenched in Gavner's blood.

"Permission granted, Kurda Smahlt," Paris said; no one seemed keen to deliver the bad verdict.

"Darren has vanished."

The words crashed through the hall like the break of a wave on the face of a cliff. There was a split-second's pause in which every vampire stared at me, dumbstruck by such an announcement, then all hell broke loose. My heart was still thumping, but I could no longer hear its ragged beats against the roars of surprise and anger throughout the hall. I could just barely make out Larten, in the front row, his palms pressed to his eyes. Mika folded his arms across his chest, an angrily triumphant and smug look on his face, as if he had expected such a despicable crime of the boy.

"Order!" Arrow shouted, and the outraged vampires slowly quieted themselves. "Kurda," he motioned for me to join them on the podium. "Tell us what happened."

"Nothing happened," I said. Usually, when I was forced to lie, I was smooth and cool about it, but now, after killing Gavner and almost certainly sending Darren to his death, I sounded a little shaky. I only hoped that it would be written off as astonishment at what Darren had done. "I got to his cell and only Harkat Mulds was there. When he wouldn't tell me where Darren had gone, I did a quick check of the surrounding tunnels and found nothing."

"What about Gavner Purl?" Arrow asked, slumping heavily back into his throne. "He left several minutes after you did and hasn't returned."

Pause. Blink. "No." I clamped my jaw to keep my face from twitching guiltily. Once I was sure I had all my composure back, I continued, "Though, I would assume he made the same discovery I did and is most likely still looking for Darren."

"No," Larten said suddenly, standing for the first time since I had entered the hall. "No. I cannot find a mental signal to him." I felt myself cringe, but everyone was too focused on Larten to notice. Larten shook his head, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper. "Something is wrong. There is only one reason why I would no longer be able to locate him." No one spoke now as the realization set it. It was one thing for a scared little boy to flee execution, it was another for a General to suddenly vanish...no, not vanish, die. They all knew it as well as I did now - Gavner Purl was dead. The muttering broke out again, everyone trying to connect the pieces, figure out how Darren's disappearance and Gavner's death tied in to one another. Larten had resumed his seat, paler than usual, his hands shaking, whether because of the loss of his best friend or the disgrace of his assistant, I couldn't tell. Probably both.

The Princes called once again for order, and again the vampires complied. They called nine of the sharpest Generals to the podium and motioned for them, and me, to move in to hear what they were saying. "Search the Mountain," Paris said. "Darren could not have gotten far, and Gavner's death is disturbing. Someone killed him, and whoever it was must still be in the Mountain. Find whatever you can."

* * *

_Arra's POV_

The Princes left Kurda in charge of designating which areas of the mountain were search by which Generals. Once we made it out of the Hall of Princes, he pulled a map out of his belt and immediately began pointing each person in a certain direction, pairing up some Generals for the larger tunnel, caves and caverns, and sending some out on their own. He finished his commands by sending me to the areas near the mountain's east entrance and informing us that he would be checking some tunnels under the river that only he knew well.

And then came the twitch. That subtle, flickering, annoying twitch in the corner of his mouth that he had had since childhood that only I seemed to be observant enough to pick up on. My eyes narrowed as he rolled his map back up, his fingers quivering just enough for me to see. I nonchalantly slid my left hand - my right was still in a sling from the Festival of the Undead - into my coat to be sure I had a dagger. As the Generals began to depart for the search, I stepped forward, calling, "Wait."

Kurda raised his eyebrows slightly - it wasn't my place to undermine the instructions of one about to become a Prince, but Kurda wasn't one for standing up to anyone, especially me. "New plan," I announced. "Yeba," I pointed at the burliest vampire of the group. "You take the east entrance. Rofford doesn't need help to cover the south end." I stared directly at Kurda, who was intentionally not facing me. "I'll go with Kurda. There are lots of small off-shoots in the tunnels under the stream, right?" I didn't wait for him to answer. "Darren could be hiding in one, and only I will be able to fit through them."

He didn't say anything at first, then shook his head. "You know the east entrance better than - "

"Everyone knows the east tunnels," I interrupted him. "If you want to find Darren, I should come with you."

Twitch. "Fine," he said coldly. "If that's what you want, then on your head be it." Twitch again.

I raised one shoulder, "Let's go."

And I followed him out of the hall, my fingers once again feeling for my knife. Once we were out of earshot of the others, he asked, "Why did you want to come with me? Usually you make every effort to _avoid _me." I glared at him, but didn't answer; he was up to something, and sneaks didn't deserve answers. "What," he asked again, "you don't trust me, Arra?"

"No, I don't," I growled, rounding on him. "Something's up, I can tell."

He kept walking. "Nothing is 'up'," he said. "I am merely concerned about Darren and Gavner and am focusing on finding them."

"That's bullshit," I told him bluntly. "You had something to do with Darren's disappearance, I know you did." Twitch twitch twitch. "Did you tell him to run, did you tell him to be a spineless coward and flee from our ways?"

"So you would have him put to death? He was only a boy, Arra. A little boy."

"Of course he was a boy, every man was a boy at one bloody point," I snapped, not letting myself forget that he failed to answer my question. "That doesn't mean he should be treated with any less respect." My voice lowered and I sighed, "I didn't want to see him die and you know it."

"But you just said..." Kurda started.

"Don't twist my words, I wasn't talking about Darren in the first place. I was talking about you. You are a man. You know right from wrong. You should be wiser." When he ignored me, I grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him back. "So answer my question," I snarled. "Did you tell him to run?"

"I would never force Darren to do anything he didn't want to do," he said quietly. "Because I care about him. And I'm starting to think I'm the only one who does."

"That's not true," I told him, releasing his shoulder with a look of disgust. "Larten cares about him. I care about him. Gavner...cared." I swallowed when the words left my mouth.

"Gavner," Kurda repeated, walking faster, making it hard for me to keep up and impossible to see his face. "He was a good man."

"One of the best," I agreed quietly. "Even in death, may he be triumphent."

* * *

_Kurda's POV_

We were quiet now, Arra too absorbed in thoughts of our dead friend, I feeling sick with guilt. It was only going to get worse; we were going down the same path I had with Gavner and Darren - I would be a fool to think she wouldn't sense the vampaneze. But she had insisted on coming with me because she didn't trust me, just as Gavner had insisted on taking this way out. I didn't want to have to kill Gavner, I don't want to have to kill her, but in both cases, their lives would have to be given if my plan was going to work. It didn't ease the self-disgust I was feeling.

"I wish I knew what happened to him," she said softly.

"Surprised you're not blaming me," I sneered in spite of myself.

"No," she shook her head and stopped, staring me right in the face, and for the first time in decades there was something resembling respect in her grey eyes when she spoke to me. "You wouldn't. He was our friend."

I felt my stomach clench and I quickened my pace, trying to avoid looking at her. "He was a good friend," I agreed.

We had reached the Hall of Final Voyage now, and Arra had immediately noticed the blood. "Over there!" she called, sprinting ahead and leaping over the harsh stream to the other bank. Sure as anything, Darren's blood - maybe a bit of Gavner's that had spilled onto him as well - made a perfect trail to the water's edge, stopping right at the point where he had fallen in. I quickly followed it with my eyes all the way to the exit of the cavern and knew that it led back to Gavner's body and the vampaneze.

Arra wasn't bothering to track the blood path yet; she was crouched on the bank, examining the small pool of blood that had accumulated where Darren had paused before jumping. She ran her fingers into it and slowly raised them to her mouth. She spat into the water and wiped at her lips, turning to me, her eyes full of concern.

"Gavner's?" I asked, playing dumb.

She shook her head, "Still has a slightly human taste. Half-vampire - Darren."

"Do you think he fell?" I asked, kneeling next to her.

She gave me a contemptuous glare. "You tell me," she said. "Don't think that playing ignorant is going to make me believe you had nothing to do with this. You did. I know."

"What, you think I pushed him?" I said. "I would never push Darren to a certain death. If he had fallen in, and I had been here," my voice lowered as the words caught in my throat, "don't you think I would have at least tried to save him?"

Her lips were pursed, but after a second she nodded. "You would not have hurt him," she agreed. "I'm sorry, I know you wouldn't. Though," she added, "I still think you helped him escape."

"Hypothetically," I said, and she rolled her eyes, "if I had helped him escape, why would I allow him to fall into the stream and be carried out into the violent turbulence that means certain death?"

Arra stood up and stared down the trail of blood. "I don't think you would. But there is something more going on here, and following this trail might tell us what it is." She looked back down into the water, as if hoping that Darren would suddenly appear. While she was distracted, I couldn't help but think that this was my opportunity. One push and she would be in the stream. She would put up more of a fight than Darren had, but if I didn't help her, she would be swept away in a matter of seconds. She only had one good arm at the moment; the whole story would be very understandable. How easy it would be to explain: we had found the trail near the water, she crouched to examine the blood, lost her footing, and there was nothing I could do.

I stared at her back for several seconds until she turned around again, my hands never leaving my sides. I had made a self-vow to spare as many lives as possible while trying to carry out my plan, and promised myself that I wouldn't take the lives of friends. It was ironic, really - already I had lied to myself, just like I lied to the vampire clan. They could put me to death if they ever found out, and that would be the end of it...for them. But having lied to and betrayed myself...that guilt, I would always carry, maybe past my grave.

Maybe I'd have to break my promise to myself for a second time at some point, but right now, I didn't have to.

"Arra," I called her back. She had begun to follow the blood, which meant that sooner or later she would run into the vampaneze and learn my deep, dark secret. I jogged to catch up to her as she spun around, just feet from the hall's exit.

"What?" she asked impatiently.

"I don't think you should follow it," I told her.

"Why not?" she asked angrily, pushing past me. "Wouldn't it make sense that whatever injured him in the first place would be at the other end?"

"It's too risky," I said, holding her shoulder to keep her back. "That leads right under the stream; it could break through at any second and you'd be drowned in an instant. He may have only nicked himself on a rock, or the blood could have been from an existing injury. You'd be risking your life on a whim."

"On a whim?" she snapped. "You're the one who made him escape in the first place, now you don't want me to risk my life to see if I can find him?"

"I never said I helped him escape," I barked, frustrated. Couldn't she go along with me for once in her life? This was for her own good. "And no, I don't want you to. You barely know that tunnel anyway. Let me go, there's no reason for us to both -."

"Get off," she growled, knocking my hand off. "I promised Larten when I left the Hall of Princes that I'd do my best to find him."

She started off again, and now I knew it was my last chance. With every ounce of roughness I hated to use, I grabbed her right arm, the broken one, and yanked her back. She yelped in pain as she tried to fight me off, but I tightened my hold and dragged her away from the blood. "Arra," I said, my voice the most menacing I had ever heard it as she whimpered and tried to pull away. "You know I despise pulling rank, but tonight, I am telling you that I do not allow you to follow that trail." I released her, and she stumbled back into the wall, cradling the broken arm in the other one, gasping. "I will follow it - I and I alone know the way under the stream by heart, and only I will be able to get out fast enough if the tunnel begins to cave. I will follow the trail myself. You can check the adjacent tunnels, but I will not permit you, or any of the others, to risk your lives so stupidly."

She glared venomously at me for several long, drawn out seconds, still breathing hard while her right side quivered, and I felt bad for having grabbed her. I only hoped that it would enforce my point. Arra wasn't used to me telling her what to do - it was the first time in our century-and-a-half as friends (of some sort, anyway) that I had commanded her.

Her lips pressed into a thin, furious line. "I don't trust you," she hissed.

"Arra, I assure you," I told her, "if I find Darren, I will not harm him. I want what's best for him as much as you and Larten do."

"I don't think you know what's best for him," she spat.

"Maybe we have different opinions of that," I said honestly, "but right now, it doesn't matter. I will go and check those tunnels, and you will not." If there was one thing I was sure about, it was that Arra Sails was a staunch follower of the rules, and if a soon-to-be Prince gave her an order, she would follow it.

Without another word, Arra stormed out of the hall, her hair whipping behind her like angry serpents that wanted nothing more than to rip at my throat.

At least for now, I had spared the life of a friend. Maybe it was only to have her die later rather than sooner, but no one lived forever. Prolonging life as long as possible, wasn't that the point of it all?

* * *

Part II up soon (soon in me time, that is)! I hope you enjoyed it, please, PLEASE review to let me know what you thought. I'll give you virtual cookies :) Thanks for reading!


	2. Part II

**Disclaimer: **Are these actually necessary? Or did someone just add one to their story way back in fanfiction's history and other people thought it looked all official and legal? Because if they're going to get us for copyright infringement, I don't think a few notes at the beginning of our story is gonna hold up as a defense in court. Just saying =)

**A/N: **So, remember when I said this was going to be a two-shot? Haha, just kidding, make that three chapters. *Sigh*...

* * *

**-THREE WEEKS LATER-**

_Larten's POV_

I had lost my best friend. Gavner was dead, I was sure of that. And it hurt. But not knowing what happened to Darren, that was worse. I was told to believe - and, in some strange way, wanted to believe - that he was dead; when Kurda reported that Darren's trail led into the stream that ran out of the mountain, everyone was convinced that he wouldn't have made it. And they were right, it was entirely unlikely that he could have survived the currents alone, not to mention the weather if he had ever made it out. But somewhere deep in my heart I felt that he was alive and needed my help. Maybe I was an old fool who's heart had been captured by a child, and maybe tricking myself into believing he was alive was just the beginning of the process of coping with the loss. Whatever the case, not knowing one way or another for sure was killing me inside, and that was why I found myself at the door of Arra's room late one afternoon after hours of trying to fall asleep.

After I had knocked, my foot nervously tapped against the ground as I waited for the door to swing open, and my hands were twitching against my legs. When Arra finally appeared, squinting and yawning, I stepped into her room before she could ask me inside or even acknowledge who I was. Collapsing into the nearest chair, my face fell into my hands as my shoulders began to rattle with uneven, anxiety-ridden breaths. I heard the scrape of another chair being pulled up next to me, and seconds later I felt a hand on my right arm. Arra gave it a comforting squeeze and said softly, "Darren?"

I didn't bother to nod my head, she knew. Arra had suspicions of her own. She suspected that Kurda had enticed Darren to escape, something I was quite sure of myself. But when Kurda had forbidden her from searching the tunnels under the stream, she leapt to the conclusion that he was hiding something and that there was more to this than we had originally thought. I did not believe that; the idea that Kurda had had only her safety in mind didn't make any sense to the perpetually cynical Arra. When I had asked if she truly thought he would have done something to Darren or Gavner she said no, yet she still wouldn't allow herself to trust him. But her unwillingness to believe that Darren had simply wandered off, fallen into the stream, and died was the exact reason I had come to her room.

"I cannot go on not knowing," I said finally, my voice hoarse. "He was...is...like a son to me. I need something, some closure, or even any indication of what happened."

Arra shifted next to me, her hand making soothing circles on my back. "His blood led to the stream," she said softly. "And I know Kurda didn't find anything when he traced his blood trail, but the chances are that he was seriously injured before falling in. No one has survived the journey down the stream, and if Darren was injured..." she sighed. "If Gavner was alive, there might have been a chance, but he must have fallen in trying to save Darren, which would explain why we can't find his body either." Her hand stopped on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Larten. I miss the boy too. I liked him; I cared about him. But you need to accept the truth."

"Perhaps all the pieces point to him being," I swallowed, "gone. But I cannot rest without knowing for sure. If he is alive, he will need our help." And with that I stood, wiping at the damp corners of my eyes. "I am going to look for him."

Arra stared up at me for a second, her brow furrowed. Then she nodded. "All right," she said heavily. "Where are we going first?"

* * *

_Arra's POV_

Efforts had already been made to find Gavner's body and Darren in the mountain, and so we started outside, beginning at the stream Darren had fallen into. Larten and I had asked around for help - the more of us there were, the greater the odds of finding something. Kurda immediately agreed and offered to bring his apprentices, two large Generals with a knack for waving swords like drunken pirates. An old friend of Seba's, named Oswyn, also offered to join us. With six flasks of blood, six blankets, and many warm layers of clothes each we left the mountain just after sundown. We began our thorough search closest to the water and worked outwards, away from it. I doubted that we would be out for more than a few days; we traveled faster than a weak, injured half-vampire could, and could go a considerable distance each night. I knew that if we found no body now, it was gone forever.

Kurda and his two assistants, Cyrus and Ambrose, were on edge, and Kurda was the jumpiest of the lot. I could tell he felt guilty for pulling rank on me; in the past three weeks, he had come to me with numerous apologies, none of which I accepted. Kurda Smahlt never gave an order in his life, and so for him to forbid me from going to search for Darren meant he was up to something. Anyone I voiced this opinion to told me I was being paranoid, and that I should just accept that maybe, somehow, he didn't want me to be drowned in the slight chance of the stream collapsing into the mountain. I was forced to let the matter drop, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't be watching him.

For the most part, we found the snow to be clean and untouched, except for the occasional tracks of a small animal. As it got later into the night we had to light torches, which meant the search slowed. But after several hours, we'd traveled quite a distance and still found nothing. After agreeing to take out first rest, I leaned against a tree and took a sip of blood, as did everyone except Larten. He instead crouched down and began to dig a hole in the snow. I saw Kurda frown and go over it him, and I immediately went to hear what was being said.

"What is it?" Kurda asked Larten. "Did you find something?"

I could have sworn that out of the corner of my eye I saw both Cyrus and Ambrose's hands glide down to their weapons at this.

"It is nothing," Larten said miserably, but he continued to dig. Stopping suddenly, he cursed quietly under his breath and turned to the rest of the search party. "It is not likely that we will be able to rely on tracks," he announced. "The night of Darren's escape, it rained, correct?" We nodded. "Under this top layer of snow, there is a layer of ice."

"What does that mean?" Kurda asked.

"It means it's snowed since," I explained, understanding Larten's point. "If it was raining the night Darren escaped, it would have become the layer of ice, and would be on top of any prints he or anyone else would have made in the snow."

"And anything on the top layer of snow would be after the fact," Larten nodded dismally. "There is no point in trying to pick up a trail, we will have to look behind every tree and boulder in the area to try and find him."

Or what was left of him, I felt guilty for thinking. Larten was in denial. I had hoped coming out to look for Darren would help him to accept his assistant as dead; I wished as much as he did that Darren was all right, that he could have been given a second chance at his trial and there would be hope for him in the future, but I had learned one too many times that the longer you denied loss, the more painful it was to come to terms with.

We searched for the remainder of the night without rest. The longer time went on, the more desperate the look in Larten's eyes became. It hurt to see him so upset, and I wished more than anything that I could make Darren magically appear. All I could do was look as hard as Larten was and hope that by some miracle we found...something.

We took shelter under some pine trees that day, and at sundown we were back to the search. As we began to cross into lower altitudes, the layers of snow became thinner and we found ourselves stumbling over the underbrush and rocks hidden beneath it. A couple times I had to grab onto a tree to keep from tripping and sliding down the slopes, and once I had to grab Larten's wrist to keep him from falling into a partially-covered rabbit hole.

As the hours wore on, my feet began to numb and I began to grow less attentive to the many ruts. At one point, I thought I might have seen some sort of movement from behind a tree, and so I turned quickly to move towards it, not noticing a hidden rock. The side of my foot caught on the edge of it and I tumbled backwards. I flung my hands out, expecting to hit the ground, but instead collided with one of Kurda's apprentices. Ambrose was large enough to stop us both from falling, and I turned turned to thank him. Rather than the slightly irritated face of someone who I'd just fallen into, I found myself inches away from a swiftly drawing sword. His eyes were wide, as if he'd been startled, and he tried to put his sword back before it got far from his belt, but I was too quick for him. I shot a hand out and twisted his wrist, snatching the weapon away. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Sorry," he said gruffly, extending a hand to get his sword back from me. "Got startled."

"What are you so jumpy about?" I asked, withholding the sword.

"You surprised me, that's all," he snapped. "Now I'd like my sword back, if you please."

"What had you so on edge that you'll draw a sword if someone bumps into you?" I asked, pulling it away from him again. Cyrus, Kurda's other apprentice, had come up beside him now, his jaw set, eyes fixed on me. "Why did you even bring swords? Both of you are –."

"Is there a problem?"

I turned to see Kurda, and a little behind him, Larten and Oswyn, both with their eyebrows raised, standing behind me.

"Yeah, there is," I said angrily. "Your henchmen - " I shot them a menacing glare, "are acting very strange. Why bring war weapons while searching for a little boy?"

Kurda didn't answer immediately. "You have a problem with it?"

"When they're drawing their weapons on me, damn right I do," I snapped.

He reached his hand out and took the sword back from my unwillingly loosened grip. Handing it back to Ambrose, he gave me a disdainful look. "Perhaps they were afraid of encountering danger along the way. In this day and age, maybe they have the right idea. At any rate, it's not your place to tell them what they can and can't have with them. We're all here for the same reason, Arra - to find Darren."

I pursed my lips as Kurda and his two assistants started off again, Oswyn eventually following them, all stepping carefully around the ruts on their way down the steep ledges of the mountain.

"They're up to something," I hissed to Larten as we followed after them. "Kurda and those thugs. They've been acting oddly since we left the mountain."

Larten sighed. "Perhaps they are on edge for other reasons. Their mentor is being invested as a Prince in two nights. Do not worry about them right now."

"But-" I began.

"Arra," he interrupted impatiently. "Please, can we just look for Darren?"

I exhaled. He was upset about his assistant, of course he was oblivious to the suspicious actions of our companions. I wanted to continue, wanted him to see that Kurda was guilty of something, but the truth was he probably wouldn't hear it anyway, he was too distracted. "All right," I said, trying to keep the sourness out of my voice. "Fine."

* * *

_Kurda's POV_

As soon as the others were out of earshot, I rounded on my apprentices. "What were you thinking?" I whispered furiously. "I told you not to call attention to yourselves!"

"She startled me," Cyrus explained defensively. "I'm a little on edge - can you blame me?" When I continued to frown at him, he added, "Won't happen again."

"I hope not," I said, taking the snap out of my voice. "Arra has been suspicious of me for weeks, and she's going to be watching us more closely now that she suspects you two as well." I sighed, looking at my assistants. Both were helping my cause, but neither believed strongly enough in it to play the role as innocent Darren-searcher credibly. "There is no need to be on edge," I reminded them. "We are doing this for the good of the vampire clan. We're doing the right thing."

Both of them nodded slightly then slowed their pace, dropping to the back of the pack, their hands still twitching nervously above their weapons. I ran a hand through my hair as I watched them exchange looks, knowing their thoughts as clearly as if I could read through their skulls - if they were doing the right thing, why were my orders to kill all if we found Darren?

Once again, a night of searching came to the end with no signs of Darren, and once again we were off first thing the following night. At this point, I knew our search couldn't be drawn on much longer. It was three nights until my investiture and we would have to be back at the mountain the night before the ceremonies began. That meant that this would be the last night we could possibly be out if we were to make it back in time. I wanted to relax and tell myself that we hadn't found Darren yet and we wouldn't. I could somewhat accept that, but my looming investiture - more specifically, the thought that my plan would be put into action - was bringing me more stress than anything else. I had meticulously worked out every wrinkle. I had confidence that, barring any unforeseen appearances by Darren, everything would go as it needed to. I had made sure of that. It was telling myself that I was doing the right thing that was becoming harder as it approached. I had been so sure a month ago, but the minute I had stuck the blade into Gavner's innocent stomach, doubts had begun to swirl in my head. The doubts, along with the guilt at murdering my friend, haunted me constantly. They gave me horrible dreams and kept me up during the day, but worse yet they invaded my mind during the night to the point that I almost feared Larten or Arra would read the look on my face. Every now and then, the image of Gavner's startled face as I stabbed him, or the thought that I would likely have to see that same expression on the faces of other friends, would spring into my mind, and I would stop mid-sentence. Usually I could shake the feelings quickly, but as time wore on, I became more and more easily distracted by these thoughts.

"We should take a rest," I suggested to Larten. We had been searching without a break for nearly three quarters of the night. "Wearing ourselves to exhaustion isn't going to make this search any easier."

"You are right," he nodded, though he didn't seen particularly keen on the idea of halting the search, if only temporarily.

I took a seat on a fallen, snow-covered tree, and immediately my apprentices sat next to me. I gave them a discrete warning look and they edged away, trying to look more natural. Sighing, I looked around the clearing, but stopped almost as soon as I had started, frowning. A whiff of something strange had caught my nose. I sat up straighter, sniffing the air, trying to hone in on the smell.

And that was when I felt the tip of a knife on my back. I leapt off the fallen tree, my hands immediately flying to my sword...and found myself face-to-face with an incredulous looking Arra.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she barked, putting her hands up - no knife.

"What did you do that for?" I snapped, breathing hard.

"What, tap you on the shoulder?" she asked. "I was going to ask you to move so I could sit down."

"It felt like a knife," I told her.

"Must have been my nails," she shrugged, then added, "Not my fault." She took a seat on the log where I had been seconds before and pulled her coat tighter. "I asked you to get up three times, didn't you hear me?"

"No," I admitted truthfully. "I was concentrating on something." I hesitated before adding, "That smell - do you know what it is?" It wasn't the smell of a half-vampire, or of a vampaneze, and so I couldn't see the harm in telling her.

She thought for a second. "I can't put my finger on it," she said, "but I smell it too. It's probably just an animal."

I nodded, breathing into my frost-stiffened fingers. Only now did I realize how cold it was out. Suddenly anxious to move on, I walked over to Larten. His hands were pressed together and his fingertips were tapping nervously against one another. "Think we'll find him?" I asked, stepping up beside Larten.

He sighed bitterly and shook his head. "Probably not. I am not willing to give up the search just yet, but if we find nothing tonight we should turn back.

"He could still be out here," I said, trying to sound positive and hopeful at the idea.

Larten laughed hollowly. "I do not think a full vampire could survive on his own in these conditions for more than a couple nights. I hoped we would find something, and still, we might, but if not tonight, there is your investiture to think of. You should not have left the mountain this near to it to begin with."

I snorted as though the day of my investiture, the day when everything I had worked so hard to set up would be put into motion, didn't matter to me. "Investiture be damned," I said. "If Darren is out here, I will find him."

Larten put a hand on my shoulder gratefully. "Thank you," he said, giving me a smile with more warmth than I'd received in many years - more than I deserved. "I appreciate that you cared for Darren and wish to find him." Then he looked down, "But your investiture is more important right now. The chances of us finding anything are slim as it is."

"Well, I'm not letting it drop," I grumbled. "As soon as the celebrations are over, I'll be back out looking for him." The hell I would.

Arra came over to us. "It's wolf," she said, facing me.

"What?" Larten frowned, confused.

"That smell," she said. "It's a wolf, maybe a couple of them. Probably pretty near here too. Which reminds me, I saw some wolf tracks a little while ago. They might have discovered his..." she paused, looking apologetically at Larten, "body and devoured it. We should go back and look."

"It is very doubtful that wolves would eat one with vampire blood," Larten said. "If they had, it would have driven them mad and we would be hearing their howling from miles away. We should move on, there is nothing here."

Arra and I nodded; Larten knew more than almost any other vampire about wolves. He motioned for us to follow him and started out of the clearing. I drifted to the back of the pack, letting my apprentices pass me as we followed Larten. Just as Cyrus disappeard into the thick woods, I thought I heard a rustling. I whipped my head around and looked towards it. There was a split second where I thought I might have seen something racing through the brush, making clumps of snow fall onto the ground. Squinting, I could see broken and bent branches deep in the bushes, almost as if something - or someone - and been sitting there for a while, watching us.

"Kurda?"

I blinked in surprise as Cyrus reappeared from the trees, his eyebrows raised questioningly. "What is it?" he asked. "Did you see something?"

I looked back and forth between him and the fallen mounds of snow. Finally, I shook my head. "Nothing," I told him. "Keep moving."

He raised his eyebrows at me suspiciously, then shrugged and continued walking. I gave one last look to the spot where I could have sworn I'd seen a bit of movement, then walked on. Maybe I would regret it later, maybe by some insane chance it was Darren, but even if I had seen him with my own two eyes I wondered if I would have had the heart to go after him. Coming to look for the boy with fear of his survival was one thing, killing the child was something I never wanted to have to do.

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Thanks for reading, and if you reviewed the last chapter, thanks for that too! Let me know what you thought about this one, please. I'll try to get the final part up soon...ish :P


	3. Part III

**Disclaimer: **Already written enough of them.

**A/N: **All righty, so I decided to split this into four parts...no, I didn't, just kidding ;) This _is_ actually the final part. For the final chapter (and I went back-and-forth on this), I wrote it entirely in Kurda's POV. I'm not sure if I regret that or not, but...writing several POVs on this really did not work, at all, even though I liked it a lot in the first two chapters.

So, let me take a sec to thank all who have read, reviewed, favorited/alerted. You guys are the best :D Of course, with this being the last chapter and all, I'd love it if you could let me know what you thought of this. Thanks so much! Enjoy!

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Outside the walls of Vampire Mountain, twilight was approaching fast. The vampaneze were armed in the secret tunnels, the finest wine in the mountain was poisoned and set to be given as a gift to the Princes, and I lay in my coffin, the lid shut tight and my eyes squeezed even tighter. In three hours, Princely blood would be flowing through my veins, the Princes would be dead, and I would be in control of the Hall of Princes, thus the Stone of Blood, and therefore, the entire clan of vampires. Several weeks ago, the thought would have had me jumping with joy at the thought of putting all my planning and hard work into action. Now, the images of my friends - friends I would likely have to kill - ran in an endless loop through my head, interrupted with the occasional wide-eyed Gavner as I stabbed him, or Darren pulling away from me and plummeting down the stream. I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to believe that I could save the majority of the vampires, but I knew that at the very least, tens would have to fall, whether at my sword of that of the vampaneze.

I slowly pushed the lid of my coffin open and climbed to the ground. I was supposed to be resting for my investiture, but I was already breaking tradition - and law - by allowing the vampaneze into the mountain, and so in the grand scheme of things, leaving my room was not going to be the difference between Paradise and Hell. I replaced my coffin's lid and started for my door, only pausing momentarily to listen and make sure no one was outside of the room. Maybe I would never make peace with the Vampire Gods, but I could make peace with my friends if this was to be the last time I spoke with them.

My first stop was to Vanez. Though he had always done his fair share of teasing and at times disparaging me, he had been a friend for my entire vampire life. Though he could almost always be found in the Halls of Sport, I knew with an investiture coming up he, like every other occupant of the mountain, would be in his room getting ready.

Sure enough, when I knocked on his door several minutes later, it immediately swung open and I was face-to-face with the one-eyed games master. He smiled at me at first, then frowned. "Kurda," he nodded a quick greeting. "Shouldn't you be preparing for your investiture? It's tradition for the Prince-to-be to be in solitude for twenty-four hours prior to his investing."

"I should," I nodded. "But since when am I one for following tradition?" I tried to smile.

Vanez chuckled, "That's true," and stepped to the side, allowing me into his room. Though the cells in Vampire Mountain were hardly conducive to decorations, Vanez, being a permanent inhabitant of the mountain, had made his room his own. On his walls were mounted ever type of weapon used by vampires. Staffs, spears, maces, swords, throwing stars, and various other weapons, some of which I couldn't name.

"So, what brings you here so close to your big night?" he asked, sitting on a wooden chair and gesturing for me to do the same.

I smiled and sat. "I just wanted a chance to say..." I should have planned this out. What could I really say? Goodbye? That wouldn't make sense to him - at least, not until it was too late. "I guess I just wanted to say thank you," I finally settled on. "For training me when I was young, helping me out as I went along as a General. I don't think I could have gotten where I am if it weren't for your help."

Vanez leaned back in his chair, smiling and raising his eyebrows. "Really?" he said. "I never would have guessed you felt that way. I was always under the impression you weren't particularly fond of me." And he laughed, as if that hadn't ever bothered him.

"No," I shook my head. "We don't always see eye-to-eye on things, but I appreciate all you've done. You've been a good friend. And even all that training I hated when I was young, it made me as strong as I am today."

Vanez grinned wickedly. "Then I think I've failed miserably as a teacher," he said, letting out a roar of laughter as swatted him in the shoulder. "Feeling a bit nostalgic with your investiture only hours away?"

"I guess so," I forced myself to smile, then stood. "I have to get going."

He nodded, "Of course. And may the Vampire Gods be with you tonight. You've worked for this."

I grimaced inwardly at the cruel irony of his blessing, then started for the door. "Thank you. You have no idea."

"Oh, and Kurda?" he stopped me as my hand closed around the doorknob. "This time tomorrow night, you'll be a Prince. How 'bout you take me on with that powerful blood running through your veins? Maybe you'll stand a chance." He smiled innocently.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before turning around to face him. "I don't think so, Vanez. And I'm sorry; I'm starting to wish I could."

And before the look of puzzlement fully hit his face, I left.

My next stop was Arra. She would never allow the vampaneze to step into the Hall of Princes without putting up a decent fight. I doubted whether she'd be as drunk the rest (she hardly ever drank - she said someone had to stay sober while the others were getting hammered) and would probably end up being one of the first to be killed because of it. If I had it my way, I'd try to explain it to her, try to get her to see the reasoning behind peace, but I knew she'd never hear of it. Eventually, anyone who couldn't would have to die for the greater good. I tried to rationalize that, in the end, that wasn't my fault.

She took a little longer to answer her door than Vanez had. I wondered briefly if she wouldn't want to talk to me and I should leave, but then I remembered the first night we were looking for Darren and I had considered pushing her into the stream, then decided against it. I crossed my arms and waited in front of her door; she had been a childhood friend, and I had one small request to ask of her.

"Well, if it isn't the Prince-to-be," she said snidely as the door swung open. "Come to insist your innocence again and beg for an apology? You have neither."

"Arra," I sighed , stepping in, knowing she wouldn't invite me. To my luck, she didn't kick me out and shut the door in my face, but instead turned away from me to walk back into her room. "I didn't come here to argue. I just had a couple last things I wanted to say." I tensed, realizing my slip, and quickly followed up with, "You know, before I become a Prince."

"You don't have long," she said, sitting on her closed coffin lid. "Start talking."

I sat at her table, hesitant to begin. Noting the two empty mugs, in front of me, I commented casually, "You had a visitor?

"Larten," she said, and her expression softened a bit to one of sadness. "He's still upset about Darren."

"As am I," I said, and ignored her sneer.

"If you're here to talk about Darren..." she began, but I shook my head.

"No, I'm not," I corrected her. "We've done enough of that over the last four weeks. I just had a..." and I trailed off, raising my hands an inch off the table and titled my head noncommittally.

She rolled her eyes, as if she thought she already knew what I was going to say or ask. She opened her mouth, probably to refuse, or tell me what I could do with my words, but I held up a hand to stop her.

"You think I'm weak," I told her, and my voice was not accusing, it was matter-of-fact. "You think I'm a spineless coward; a disgrace to the vampire clan. You're wrong. I want you to think for just a second that maybe those who don't fight with their arms aren't cowards. Maybe those who use their heads aren't weak. And maybe hoping for peace isn't spineless. Did you ever think that vampaneze may not be all that different from us? Maybe wanting both sides to see from the point of view from the other isn't so crazy. Just...think of that, please, and maybe you'll see that I'm not such a bad vampire after all."

Arra's arms were folded, her grey eyes decidedly critical after my little spiel. "And let me guess, you want me to shake your hand because you 'use your head' and want peace?" I shrugged one shoulder; it was as good a guise as any for coming here. "That's the same crap you've been on about for decades, why would I think any differently now? I still don't trust you, and I still think you're a coward."

I raised one palm to the ceiling to admit defeat. "I suppose I wanted to give it one last chance, see if now, after Darren, you'd softened and would try to see me as something other than an idiotic worm."

"I never told you you're an idiot," she said, cracking a smile.

"I beg to disagree," I said, smiling back at her. "And if you haven't at least a dozen times, you might just be the only one."

"Maybe once or twice. But I never said your ideas were wrong." When my eyes lit up, she added, "Not completely. But they aren't the way vampires think, and your dreams of peace will never work." Her voice darkened, and her eyes followed. "Vampaneze are savage beasts that deserve no place on earth alongside vampires. And the only way we can get rid of them is to kill them. And you can't kill with words and thoughts."

I sighed, saddened. "It's a shame you're so damn stubborn," I told her. "I wish you weren't. Maybe things would turn out differently if fewer thought like you."

She sniffed. "If more thought like you, the world would have collapsed in on itself in the beginning of time."

"A mind functions best when open," I reminded her.

"If you're going to spew childhood sayings at me, you might as well go," she said coolly, and I stood, shrugging as if the fact that she would be dead in several hours because of her bullheadedness didn't bother me.

"If that's the way it has to be, fine," I said. "I have an investiture to prepare for. No chance of you shaking my hand, then?" It was a ludicrous request, but I had nothing to lose in asking; the petty sign of approval from Arra was something I had been obsessed with in my youth. Though it seemed of little importance to me now, I felt as though I should ask for the novelty of it.

She made a hacking noise and slid off her coffin, presumably so she could slam the door behind me on my way out.

"You know," I said, turning back before I was over the threshold with a teasing smile. "I really used to be quite taken with you when we were young."

She rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. "You make me want to shake your hand less with each passing moment."

And after she shut the door, I heard her laughing lightly to herself.

Shaking my head with a sad grin, I turned right down the tunnel for Larten, whose room, conveniently (for me and for him), was only several down from Arra's. I wasn't sure how much time I had left now before my investiture began. The thought of me, the vampire of the moment, being absent for the beginning of the ceremony made me chuckle softly despite the ever-growing knot in my stomach.

Barely a minute later, I was knocking on Larten's door, hoping that it was still early enough and he wouldn't be headed to the Hall of Princes already.

"Come in," he called, and I turned the handle. As I closed the door behind me, my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and I spotted him in a corner, tying his best red velvet cape around his neck. "Kurda?" he said, frowning as he saw me. "You are the last vampire I expected to see before the ceremony. Should you not be in your cell, preparing for tonight and finishing the traditional twenty-four hours of solitude?"

I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Always a stickler to the rules," I said. "There isn't much I have to do to prepare; just change and show up on time." I grinned. "And as for the twenty-four hours of solitude, I thought that twenty-two and a half would suffice. It seems a waste to sit alone in my room, twiddling my thumbs and being anxious. I'm not here at a bad time, am I?"

"Well," he sighed, "it is a slightly inopportune moment, but no more for me than it is for you."

"'Inopportune moment'," I repeated, smiling. I would miss phrases like that. "That makes me feel very wanted." I chuckled, "Though, believe it or not, you're being much more welcoming than Arra was a few minutes ago. She'd have had me out her door in a matter of seconds if she'd had it her way."

He didn't address the dig at his ex-mate except to give an uninterpretable grunt.

"I have to wonder if she even plans to attend my investiture tonight," I continued. "Do you know?"

He paused. "I am not sure," he muttered.

"I'll take that as a 'no'," I smiled. "But that doesn't bother me. I expect half the mountain will be looking for any excuse not to attend. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that you are coming so willingly."

"And why is that?" Larten asked. "We have been friends, of sorts at least, for the majority of our vampiric lives. I am happy to see you succeed."

"You know, that's the nicest thing anyone's said to me in a long time," I said, giving him an appreciative clap on the back. "Thank you."

For a second, I almost - almost - thought that maybe I could get Larten to see reason, that maybe by some chance, he wouldn't have to die. Perhaps seeing his assistant, the closest thing to a child he had, sentenced to death before his eyes, had made him think twice about the ways of the vampires. He was intelligent, so maybe he would be able to understand what I was doing and why and his life could be spared.

It was an evanescent hope. As soon as I killed Seba or Arra and he put the pieces together to realize that I had killed Gavner and sent Darren to his death, he would never be able to agree with me. At that point, he would probably be happier dead.

"I have to go," I told him suddenly, turning away before he could see that sadness in my eyes. "I guess I didn't really have anything to say after all. I'll see you later, Larten."

"Wait," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder to stop me from leaving, and I swore I saw something wet at the corners of his eyes. "For what it is worth, if Darren were still here, I know he would have been the first to celebrate your Princehood. You were a wonderful friend to him, and I will forever be grateful to you for that."

The words burned through me more than any pit of stakes or torch in Hell ever could. I felt my legs begin to shake and left Larten's room as fast as I could, not even sure whether or not I responded to him. I hurried into a different tunnel, one I knew was unlikely to have anyone traveling down it, and collapsed onto the ground. I wrapped my arms around my shins and pushed my forehead into my knees. I could feel my bitter tears dripping down my legs. Larten's words, w_onderful friend, _flicked through my head in a maddening cycle, narrating the haunting images of Darren's expression as he looked up at me from a dying Gavner's side and his hateful glare as he was swept away down the steam ran through my head.

Suddenly I couldn't breathe. My lungs were constricted. It felt like my body was now every bit as disgusted in me as my heart was, and it had decided that this foul excuse for a vampire deserved to die, right here on the spot, and was beginning to quickly shut down. I wanted it to. How could I have ever thought that what I was doing was the right thing? Peace, it was a fool's dream. How much would have to be lost just to try for it? Too much, too many. I'd promised not to hurt any friends along the way. I was as much a traitor to myself as I was to the vampire clan. I wanted nothing more than to die on the spot.

I didn't have long to sit there in my self-detest before I heard my name being called by Cyrus. I cursed the apprentice under my breath and considered moving deeper into the mountain, where he wouldn't find me. Before I could make a decision, the sound of his quickly approaching footsteps was interrupted by him saying, "There you are! Do you have any idea how late it is?"

I didn't answer, but slowly picked myself up off the ground, wiping at the dampness around my eyes. Cyrus stopped in front of me, looked briefly over my tear-stained face, then looked down at the ground as if embarrassed. Cyrus, like most vampires, found crying to be a sign of weakness and often looked away from anyone displaying such a desperate emotion to spare them the humiliation.

"All right?" he muttered uncomfortably, still not looking at me.

Again, I didn't answer; he didn't really want to know. Instead, I asked, "How much time do I have before the investiture?"

"Barely ten minutes!" he exclaimed, his eyes still just averted from my face. "And you still need to get your robes from Seba. If we go to his room on the way to the Hall..."

"He brought it to me already," I said, slowly pulling myself together. I motioned for Cyrus to follow me. "A couple hours ago."

"That's strange," Cyrus said. "He told me yesterday that they were waiting in his room."

I shrugged. 'Maybe he didn't want any visitors." I could hear Cyrus muttering something about fickle old vampires, but I didn't listen. I took a deep breath and tried to steady my nerves as I had no choice but to walk. I _was _doing the right thing. This _was _the only way that both clans could survive and live in peace. I had known when I began plotting that it was not the easiest path to take, but I had chosen to go on anyway, for the greater good of both vampires and vampaneze. I had panicked before, that was; my anxiety had rendered me irrational. I still had to do what I had to do. It was worth the hate I would feel towards myself as long as my life dragged on.

Several minutes later, I stepped out of my room in a set of brilliant white robes that only those honored above all vampires, those who had been elected to Princehood, would ever wear. I had wiped my face clean of any traces that I had doubted my beliefs and set on the stoic mask of one ready to accept this honor with dignity. Cyrus was waiting for me outside my door; it was custom for the Prince-to-be to be escorted to the hall by a General or an assistant.

"Ready?" he asked me, and I could see an excited spark in his eye. He was young and eager for it all to begin.

I nodded silently once and we began towards the Hall of Princes. My legs moved as if they were a mechanical device of their own will; my brain had shut off, and I was relying solely on the countless hours, days, and years that I had run through this moment to keep me going.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Not long after, as I stepped up onto a platform to be carried into the Hall of Princes, I realized that everything was passing in a haze, as though I was watching it, but not living it. I needed to be more alert; in a matter of hours, the ceremony would be over and I would have an important mission to accomplish. But I couldn't bring my head to cooperate. As we passed by the rows of Generals, I could see my guards. They were edgy tonight; every now and then as I glanced at them, they were tensed, looking around frantically, expecting trouble. I, on the other had fallen into a state of apathy. Whatever happened now would happen. For a man who had planned what could very well end a bloodbath, I was surprisingly calm.

No sooner had the thought passed through my head than it all began. I was halfway to the throne of the Princes when the boy's voice shouted, "STOP!" At first I thought it was in my head - it was almost comical how alike it all was to the many ways I pictured this day going wrong in my mind - but then I heard Larten, from slightly in front of me, roar, "Darren!"

I looked up only briefly as the chaos broke out, more to see Darren than for any other reason. I knew now that it was over. He was stark white, ruffled, and wearing only a cloth wrapped around his waist. But he was very much alive. My three guards reacted brilliantly; several I recognized as Seba's assistants acted just as fast. A knife was thrown that Darren dodged; a wolf appeared out of nowhere and pounced down on one of my guards, a good man named Ambrose, tearing at his throat and killing him. I felt a wave of sadness wash over me and I bowed my head again; Ambrose was one of many vampires who would die, and all for their unwillingness to change their ways for peace.

Though my guards were now being restrained and removed from the Hall, I made no motion to get up. Slowly lowering my gaze to the floor, I made the death's touch sign to myself as I remained seated, not bothering to listen as hell broke loose around me. There was no doubt in my mind that what I had reached for was a good thing, but was it the right thing? That was a matter of opinion. I raised my head, my face somber, as I stared out at the vampires around me. It was a matter of time before each and every one of them would die out, and it would be of their very own doing.


End file.
